Ginn offloads 6,000

acre development

to Reynolds
From staff reports

One of Watauga County’s largest real-estate developments in recent years has been sold after the developer’s affiliates filed for bankruptcy last week.

The 6,000-acre Laurelmor golf resort has been sold to new owners after Florida-based Ginn Company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy to liquidate two Florida projects, as well as agreeing to allow lenders to have partial control of a Bahamas-based development.

BR Development Group LLC and Blowing Rock Resort Venture LLC will now own the Laurelmor resort, which straddles Watauga and Wilkes counties, according to county deed filings. The property is listed at a value of $32 million. Both companies were formed in Georgia in early December and are tied in with Atlanta-based Reynolds Capital Group.

The sale is part of a restructuring agreement with lenders, led by Credit Suisse, after Ginn was unable to refinance a $675 million debt it defaulted on earlier this year.

“It’s important to note that all other Ginn interests are unaffected,” company spokesman Ryan Julison said in a prepared statement.

Existing property owners will not be affected. Ginn owns 11 projects in other states
.
Under the agreement, Ginn will give up ownership in Laurelmor in exchange for the lifting of liens.

Ginn CEO Robert Gidel said the newest restructuring agreement “achieves the best possible result for each of the projects, under the circumstances.”

“All parties worked toward a resolution that maximized the value both of the properties and the homeowners’ interest,” he said.

“We believe the resolution reflected in the master restructuring agreement achieves the best possible result for each of the At Laurelmor, Ginn sold about 200 lots and began a mammoth construction effort, which included new roads, a clubhouse and other amenities.

In November 2006, Ginn held a property sale at Laurelmor that may have broken state records for the value of resort property sold in a single day. A company spokesman had said most of the approximately 500 people in attendance at the weekend event would probably sign contracts that day, with an anticipated total sale value of $150 million.

Ginn officials hoped about 1,500 single-family homes and up to 400 condominium units would be built on the site.

Ginn purchased the property from David Kaplan, formerly a principal in the Heavenly Mountain development.

If the project were to be developed according to the master plan submitted to the Watauga County Planning Commission, the tax value has been estimated between $2.5 billion and $3.5 billion.